About the Friends

Welcome!

The PTA, known as the Friends of Coltishall Primary School, would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves and give you an idea of some of things we do. We hope that you will feel you want to support us and get involved with our socials and fund-raising activities.

The Friends overarching aim is to “Enhance the education of the pupils of Coltishall Primary by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities for education at the school (not normally provided by the local authority)”. Alongside this we also want to create social opportunities for the whole school community to get together and have fun.

The Friends committee is made up of volunteer parents, grandparents and staff, with the Headteacher as president. We are backed up by a wider group of volunteers who help at the special events we organise throughout the year.

As a Committee we have an elected Chair, Secretary and Treasurer and as many other members who wish to join. A list of the current committee members can be found on the Friends noticeboard or on the school web-site. We are a friendly and open group and always welcome new members and fresh ideas! Why not come along to one of our half-termly meeting to check us out?

In today’s climate it is all the more necessary to provide money for all the extras which make life at Coltishall Primary all the more enriching and rewarding for the children. To give you an idea of what the Friends do, here is a brief list of some of the things that we have provided in the past few years:

* New playground markings

* Mathletics software – an excellent maths learning platform available to all pupils (on an annual basis)

* Tickets for Shark in the Park

* Visit to school from Norfolk Story Book

* Picnic benches

* Musical instruments

* Visiting theatre group – Image musical theatre - performance of `The Jungle Book`

* Book bags and house-coloured sun-caps

* Membership to ‘Sing-Up’ an online teaching resource for Music education

* Subsidies of some coach travel costs on trips

To raise the money to fund these brilliant activities and equipment, and to promote opportunities for socialising and increasing our wider sense of community, we have organised:

* A Quiz and Chips Night * A Christmas Fair

* Book fairs * A family Bingo Evening

* A Summer BBQ

Other things you might like to know about us include:

• Our correspondence to you and termly newsletter is always printed on YELLOW paper.
• We have a Friends on FACEBOOK site, which is a closed group for parents, carers and teachers of children at Coltishall Primary. It keeps you up-to-date with events, fund-raising and grants – and is a valuable forum for checking the ‘day-to-day’ details with others. Search for: https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofcoltishallschool/
• The Friends sell the school sweatshirts and cardigans with our school logo on for £9 each, also the PE t-shirts in each house colour for £2.50 each. These are available to purchase by filling in the form located in the reception foyer and handing your request back in to the reception foyer for the friends to action your request.  Your order will then be passed to your child. We will be open on Inductions days and at other times by arrangement.
• If you are looking to label your child’s clothing we can provide you with an order form for ‘My Name Tags’ which award us a small commission when you place an order. Use the code 30539. Alternatively you can go to the `Stamptastic` website and order your stamp from there – using the code COLTISHALL.
• We run a monthly draw called the 100 Club which is a great way to start supporting the school immediately - and getting grandparents or relatives involved too. You can purchase an annual membership to the 100 Club for £15. Your allocated number is then entered into a monthly draw where half of the cash accumulated for the month is awarded as prizes to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd number drawn – and the other half of the money goes directly towards the school. Pick up as many entry forms as you like from next to the Friends noticeboard or on Induction Day.
• If you ever shop online, you can help by just visiting easyfundraising.org.uk and registering, nominating The Friends of Coltishall Primary as your chosen charity. Thereafter you visit the site to find links to your favourite shopping sites – you simply shop as normal and the retailer makes a small donation to us. No cost to you.

Some of the FRIENDS will be available on Induction Day to answer any questions you may have. We look forward to welcoming you then – and to any future events at the school. Please remember, we are all volunteers and any help you can offer will be widely appreciated.

Yours

The FRIENDS of Coltishall Primary School

We are a registered charity (no.1032384)

Our Members

Please see our Facebook page for updated information on Committee members and meetings

Please remember that new Friends are always welcome at the meetings!

100 Club

Why not join the Friends of Coltishall Primary School 100 Club?

Two good reasons to join in the fun:

• You will be supporting the children of Coltishall Primary School.
• You could be a lucky winner in one of our monthly prize draws.

How the 100 Club works

 
For an annual subscription of £15, you will receive a lucky number which is entered into a prize draw each month.
 
The total amount of money in the prize pot each month is split into two – half goes directly to supporting the children and half is used as the prize fund. 
 
If we had 100 members………each month the 1st prize winner would receive £25, the 2nd prize would be £15 and the 3rd prize would be £10.
 
A fully subscribed 100 Club would generate £600 per year to support the children! Traditionally, this pays for book bags and school caps for children new to the school and other additional goodies.
 
If you, your family, or neighbours* would like to join the 100 Club, please collect a form from the Friends’ rack in the foyer.
 
*Applicants must be 18 or over.

Support while you Shop
 

It’s often difficult to come up with new fundraising ideas that do not rely on the parents, digging in to your pockets – however we’re hoping we’ve come up with the perfect solution.

When shopping online through our webshop, you can access over 100 leading retailers – such as Asda, Early Learning Centre, Next, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis. Every time you use our webshop to go to a retailer’s web site and subsequently buy something, you’ll automatically earn money for us! Each retail store has agreed to pay Coltishall Primary School a percentage commission ranging between 2 and 12% – the important point is that the commission paid to Coltishall Primary comes out of the retail store’s marketing/advertising budget so the price you pay for the goods is the same as if you had gone direct to the store.

All you need to do is go to Easyfundraising – Select ‘A-Z’ and then ‘All’ to give you a listing of all the retailers taking part. Select the link to the actual website you require (eg Early Learning Centre) and then proceed with your internet purchase as you normally would.